midway between Picton and
Christchurch. The town is in
the `sunbelt' of New Zealand,
191km south-east of Blenheim,
and can boast plenty of
sunshine hours a year. Kaikoura
is scenically superb and rich in
historical mythology.
`meal of crayfish' and was given
to the area by a Maori chief
called Tamatea. According to
legend, he found the crayfish
so good that he stopped here
to eat some while pursuing
his runaway wives who were
eventually transformed into
greenstone in Westland.
place of historical significance.
It was here that the demi-god
Maui fished up the North Island
from the sea. The earliest Maori
ancestors of the South Island
tribes are also said to have
arrived here on the back of a
huge whale. Today, you are still
likely to see huge sperm whales,
the largest of all toothed
whales.
of marine life due to the
Kaikoura canyon (part of
the Hikarangi Trench) which
comes to within 700m of the
Kaikoura coastline and at its
deepest point is 1650m. The
vast food supply from the cold